Abysmal Dawn is a death metal band based in Los Angeles. They have been founded in 2003 and have released 3 very well received albums since then. They have toured in North America with bands like Six Feet Under, Decapitated and Cannibal Corpse.
SOM had the chance to ask Charles Elliot, lead singer and guitar player of the band, a few questions about their plans and projects. Check it out!!!!!!
Abysmal Dawn hasn’t toured for some time. What have you guys been up to lately?Been working hard on a new record at the moment. The songs are coming along nicely right now. We have about 7 and a half songs of music plus other starts of songs.
Your latest album was released around two years ago. Do you guys already know when you will be releasing your next album?
Yeah it's been a while. Originally the plan was to start writing immediately after the tour we did with Cannibal Corpse in March/April 2012 I think it was. The problem was I ended up doing the Death To All tour right after that so my time was spent just cramming for those shows and learning those songs. The set for that wasn't really decided for that until I got back from that tour. Once the Death To All tour was over I was burned out and just needed a break before I started work on new ABYSMAL DAWN tunes. The plan is to record the album now in June and have a new record out in the Fall. Hopefully it works out since I don't really want for the album to be released until 2014. The most important thing to me is putting out a quality album though and I won't put something out I'm not happy with. Every album has been a progression I think and I'd like to keep it that way.
You are located in Southern California. Are most of your fans also located here?
I don't know, I suppose so. We've played the most shows here that's for sure. It feels like we get crazier responses outside of Southern CA though sometimes. I think people always take their hometown bands for granted to a certain extent though. There's less of a mystique so to speak when you see the guys around all the time as well. We try not to overplay LA now so th
at when we do have shows here everyone isn't burnt on seeing us.Talking about your music now: many death metal bands nowadays seem to focus a lot in “technique”. Some bands have been composing pretty complex songs but sometimes, it seems that there is not a lot of focus on making the songs “memorable”, with “catchy” riffs. In my opinion, your music is the perfect balance between being technical and having memorable moments, with songs that people can actually remember and even sing along. Do you agree?
Yeah definitely. I love tech stuff but I still want to hear hooks so I try and blend both. I still want the songs to be heavy too and that's kind of hard sometimes when you make your guitar sound like you're choking a turkey all the time. We're trying to capture more of that raw energy of a live setting as well. We want to completely pummel the audience when we play. I think that gets lost sometimes in the ultra technical stuff but death metal has always been about pushing limits. I personally come back to catchy in your face riffing though because that's what I love to play in a live setting.
So, talking about things that some bands should or not do: in your opinion which are the best and worse practices in metal nowadays?
If you mean sound-wise, I don't know. I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music and I'm not going to talk shit on bands just because they're not my thing. Being a musician is hard so I have respect for anyone that puts the work in. Sometimes you play with bands that aren't really your style but they're really cool people and are roughing out in the van 8 months out of the year. I can't bad mouth anyone that follows their dream and says fuck you to the monotony and safety of regular life. If you'
re an overnight success and cut your way to the top I do hate you a little though (laughs).About Abysmal Dawn this year: any plans to tour outside the US any time soon?
We were going to do a European tour with Krisiun but it ended up not working out. At the moment we just want to focus on a new record and hopefully tour outside of North America when it finally comes out. We've been finally getting offers that seem reasonable now so I think that will actually happen next time around.
If you could pick one metal festival to play at in 2013, which one would it be and why?
Wacken is still the biggest festival in Europe from my understanding so I'd like to play that obviously. Maybe on their tented stage though if we're playing during the day. I hate playing during the day outdoors. It just doesn't feel right you know? Neurotic Deathfest, Hellfest, Bloodstock and Maryland Deathfest are all festivals I wouldn't mind playing as well.
To all metalheads out there who don’t know your music: where can they get your albums and/or mp3s?
You can find our album on iTunes in deluxe format and we also our records on our web shopwww.abysmaldawn.bigcartel.com. Relapse.com sells our stuff too and any record store or mail-order that doesn't suck should have it as well.
Any messages to the SOM readers?
Support your favorite bands! Go to their shows, buy their merch and albums and make sure you tell your friends about them so they can be around for years to come. If you're from Europe go to your local promoters message boards and demand that ABYSMAL DAWN play your town! We hope to see you all while on tour in the near future!
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit
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